This invention relates to sheet metal connectors used in the construction of wood frame buildings. Specifically, the invention is a hanger intended to provide for any known intersection requirement to any amount of skew and any amount of slope.
The sheet metal connector industry is a multi-million dollar business with hundreds of designers furnishing connectors for almost every conceivable intersection requirement. While the use of sheet metal connectors grew from modest beginnings prior to World War II, almost every building constructed today contains anywhere from a few dozen to hundreds of connectors.
In spite of the employment of a great many people over many years in this field not a single production sheet metal universal skewed and sloped hanger is known to Applicant. Applicant has been in the construction industry for many years and has known of the need for such a hanger. Despite his efforts to find a solution, the key eluded him to the present time even though he holds several patents on sheet metal connectors and has designed many non-patented connectors in this field.
Because there is no universal skewed and sloped hanger available, architects and builders are forced to design and build as few skewed and sloped intersections into their buildings as possible in order to keep the costs to a minimum. This lack of an inexpensive universal hanger has resulted in many compromises in design and the poor utilization of building lots which would be much more efficiently used if the entire building or portions thereof could be designed with intersections other than ninety degrees (90.degree.).
Tracy, U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,941 is a connector capable of being custom formed on the construction site for fixed skew and slope angles. Once the connector is bent, however, it is impractical to use the connector at another angle. Hand bending of the connector would be slow and costly.
Applicant has filed an application, Gilb, Restricted Slot Nail Openings for Sheet Metal Framing Connectors U.S. Ser. No. 084,722 filed Oct. 15, 1979 for a device commonly referred to as a skewed hanger, but the subject hanger is formed at the factory at a fixed angle and cannot be used for intersections of different angles.
Lancelot, U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,962 granted Nov. 14, 1978 disclosed a joist hanger with an adjustable height seat. FIG. 10 of this patent discloses a device which permits the seat to be pivoted about a threaded bolt which is held by two cast lugs 45 and 46. Lancelot, supra holds the seat at a distance from the face of the supporting member in a way that the device must be capable of withstanding huge moment forces rather than holding the load in shear. Because the device must withstand moment forces rather than shear stress, Lancelot, supra must be constructed of heavy materials and is intolerably expensive for general usage in wood frame buildings.
The present state of the art requires that custom made skewed and/or sloped hangers be constructed where intersections are other than ninety degrees (90.degree.). These custom made connectors require that the carpenter make a compound cut in the wood to receive the compound skew and slope angles. The high cost of the custom made connector as well as the additional labor required by skilled high cost labor combine to insure minimal use of such connectors.
It was obvious that a potential solution had to involve two separate parts, and that the support element had to rotate in respect to the supporting element in order to solve the basic requirement of the device. The analogy of the hinge or a hinge like solution proved to be an insidiously deceiving simile which masked the ultimate solution for nearly two decades even after dozens of concerted attempts to find the answer. Even though early feasibility studies indicated that a door hinge principle would lead nowhere since a door hinge capable of holding 1000 to 4,000 lbs. would have to be massive and require an expensive casting, still it seemed impossible to improve on this ancient and time honored device. Yet, only after the hinge principle was entirely cast aside was the solution discovered.